This invention relates to a vehicle body for enclosing the cargo compartment of a vehicle with an opening and a door for closing the opening, and more particularly to a slide mounted door hinge assembly for mounting the door to the vehicle body.
Pickup trucks are popular roadway vehicles used for light to medium hauling. A cargo bed is located on the rear of the vehicle's frame. Low sidewalls integral with the quarter panels of the vehicle and a hinged tailgate characteristically surround the cargo bed forming what is commonly call the box of the pickup truck.
Vehicle bodies, popularly called toppers, are available in the markplace for completely covering the box thereby creating an enclosed cargo compartment. A topper has a roof, depending sidewalls, a rear opening and a pivotally mounted door for closing the opening above the tailgate. The topper sidewalls rest upon, and are affixed to, the sidewalls of the box. The door is hinged to the topper adjacent the roof. Toppers protect the box and cargo from the weather and may be conveniently locked to deter theft of any items within the cargo compartment.
Extendable parallel struts are pivotally connected between the inside of the door and the sidewalls of the topper. The struts guide the swinging movement of the door between its open and closed positions and are generally biased by a spring to lift the door to its open position and hold it there.
The conventionally mounted topper door has limited swinging movement in the range of approximately 90 degrees from its closed vertical position to its open generally horizontal position. This is so because of its fixed hinge arrangement and the limited range of extension of the struts. When the door is in its open horizontal position, it creates restricted overhead clearance at the rear of the vehicle. Loading or unloading cargo from the cargo compartment is thereby hampered or cramped by the opened overhead door. People also must be conscious of the door's location to avoid bumping their heads on the opened door while moving about the rear of the vehicle.
Travel with the conventional topper door open while hauling oversized cargo may be hazardous and is generally not recommended. Vibration or jerking of the vehicle typically associated with its motion will cause wear or fatigue of the hinges, struts and their connections because they support the opened door's weight while in this position. Should the struts release or drop the door from its open position, the topper, its door and/or any cargo extending thereout may be damaged.